A place for vinyl enthusiasts to find reviews, discussions, rants and raves.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

scrap224; Def Leppard HYSTERIA

This is a journey into sound.....

80's British rock. That statement is humorous yet an accurate one when describing Def Leppard. Already a handful of good to great albums to their credit it would be their 4th album, HYSTERIA that would solidify them as one one the biggest & best rock bands of all time. HYSTERIA was released on August 3rd, 1987. It is still their best selling album selling 20 million + so far. Of the 12 tracks on the album 7 were released as singles. HYSTERIA gave the world such music as; Rocket, Armageddon It, Love Bites, Pour Some Sugar On Me, Hysteria, Women, & Animal. A virtual greatest hits from a single album. Hysteria went on to dominate album charts around the world for three years. RIAA x 12 platinum sales in America 2009. Hysteria currently sits as the 51st best selling album of all time in the US, and spent a record 96 weeks in the US Top 40. The album has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide.

The album has earned critical acclaim from a number of sources. In 1988 Q magazine readers voted Hysteria as the 98th Greatest Album of All Time, while in 2004, the album was ranked at number 472 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
On 31 December 1984, drummer Rick Allen lost his left arm when his Corvette flipped off a country road. Following the accident, the band stood by Allen's decision to return to the drum kit despite his disability, using a combination electronic/acoustic kit with a set of foot pedals that triggered (via MIDI) the hits he would have played with his left arm. The original name of the album was ANIMAL INSTINCT, yet it would be drummer Rick Allen's suggestion to title the new album HYSTERIA due to all of the events that happened to him & the band during the 3+ years it took to record it.
HYSTERIA is personally my favorite Def Leppard album & one of my favorite albums ever, & the vinyl version is no exception. The sound is clean, loud, & warm. In my opinion; a nearly perfect vinyl album. You don't have to get hysterical to listen to HYSTERIA, but it should at the very least make you happy. Spin it.